In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (Spanish initials: MEIC) wants to make it easy for shoppers to find the lowest prices on groceries and other consumer goods. To this end, the MEIC is developing a smartphone app that will allow consumers to scan bar codes and compare prices across stores so that they can easily determine affordability in real-time.

The announcement by the MEIC arrives in the wake of their “Consumidor en Linea” app launch, which took place on March 14^th, in observance of International Consumer Day. This iOS and Android app is designed to complement the 1-311 mobile consumer protection and information hotline.

The future MEIC price scan and comparison-shop smartphone app is a work in progress that will be rolled out gradually in select stores across Costa Rica in the beginning. Tatiana Gutierrez of online news daily CRHoy.com spoke with the executive director of software developing firm GS1, which is working with the MEIC on this project. Guillermo Varela explained that the app will provide shoppers with valuable data:

“The information will let you know if the store you are shopping in is more or less expensive than others, and you will also be able to know which brands offer the best prices.”

Mr. Varela also mentioned that 40 percent of the population in Costa Rica uses smartphones, and 20 percent own more than one. This is an ideal situation for the MEIC’s vision of promoting the use of smart bar codes on all consumer goods. For example, a bar code on bottle of Chilean wine could be scanned with a smartphone to reveal important information about the harvest, the temperature it should be served at, food pairings, and more.